Earth, upon which this moving, breathing life exists.May she bestow on us the finest of her harvests!
Earth, the all-sustaining, treasure-bearing, resting-place;
Golden-breasted Earth, home of all life,
Who bears the sacred fire.
Atharva Veda Book XII

Friday, 4 December 2015

World
leaders gathered in Paris, France, on 30 November 2015 for the fortnight-long
deliberations on climate change. This is the COP-21, the Conference of Parties
summit, called by the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) whose
responsibility it is to find ways that contain temperature rise.

The
science is clear. For the first time in recorded history, climate change has
been caused by human actions largely due to the increased level of greenhouse
gases in the atmosphere from the burning of fossil fuel whose origin coincided
with the start of the industrial revolution around 1750. The advent of large
scale industrialisation, deforestation, intensive commercial agriculture,
changing food habits, increasing consumption patterns which are the
characteristics of developed countries, all contribute to the deteriorating
health of our planet.

This is
what is now called the anthropogenic impact (and one of the popular terms for
this era of climate change caused by human activities is 'anthropocene'). The
terms describe planetary effects of collective action or behaviour. Such scales
are often difficult to convey to households or even city and town wards. Yet at
the local level it is individuals, households, communities and village
panchayats which must also act responsibly so that environmental degradation is
halted and for climate change to be addressed.

The
problem appears too large and too daunting, more so for India, as it strives to
meet its development challenges. Yet our government has announced an ambitious
climate change action plan which will work only when citizens collaborate fully
with government, at all levels. And if we want our government to be successful
in its endeavour, citizens must find solutions because these exist. One of the
strengths of our Indian society (in its many forms) is its ability to be
sustainable, to use and re-use wisely, where values are placed on recycling, on
conserving and protecting our trees and forests and existing in harmony with
nature.

Earth
science tells us (indeed earth systems scientists have been making this warning
for at least a decade) that we must respond quickly to the climate crisis.
While there are national and state-level responses and plans, there is equally
a need for awareness and action at the most basic of local units: the
household. It is here that following traditional values and tapping into our
collective memory can make that difference - the lived stories and accounts of
our grand-parents' generation are often enough to point out the way.

Consider
the sacred botany of India, for such trees and plants are a part of our
environmental heritage and of our cultural consciousness. Evidence of tree
worship goes back to the Indus-Saraswati civilisation - these are seen on
ancient seals with the peepal (ficus religiosa) being the most frequent. In the
Vedas, trees are referred to as 'vansapati' (lord of the forest) and invoked as
deities, just as rivers are invoked. The Vedas, the most ancient of all Hindu
texts, pay tribute to nature and consider the earth as mother. Within the
precincts of the home, however humble or grand, a tulsi plant is often present,
cared for by the household.

Choice
of food - not only what is consumed every day by the household but also what is
cultivated - has a direct impact on the health of our local ecosystem and on
the planet. In October 2015, the UN Food and Agriculture Organization estimated
that the livestock industry accounts for 18.5% of the worldwide greenhouse gas emission,
even more than the transport industry! According to the UN Environment Program
(UNEP), cattle raised to provide animal protein is one of the biggest sources
of carbon dioxide released into the atmosphere and is acutely energy intensive
(the global meat industry is a disproportionate user of water and land
resources). Here too, it is our traditional values that have prevailed for the
vegetarian diet has proven to be the most ecologically sound (according to a
UNEP study in 2012, Indians consume 12 grams of meat per person per day, very
much under the world average of 115 grams). There is today a mass of evidence
to show that a vegetarian diet is not only for the planet but good for health,
and such a diet plays a positive role in the mitigation of the effects of
climate change.

Even so,
it is not enough to have an evening walk in the park nearby (if there is still
one that the builders and property developers have spared) or a weekend with
the family at a forest reserve. Everyday mindfulness is needed, for as many
actions that can be recognised as helping re-green India. The difference is
made at the level of the household - reducing and finally halting altogether
the use of plastics, being sparing (whether it is monsoon season or not) with
the use of water, consuming only what is needed and not making purchases based
on the household's ability to store or its ability to pay in instalments. These
are the ways in which every household can contribute.

While
today we are wont to connect such behaviours and practices with relatively
recent concepts and ideas that we have come to accept, such as sustainable
development, the substance of such ideas was being considered and discussed in
the decades preceding our Independence. In 1909 Sri Aurobindo wrote, "The
mould is broken; we must remould in larger outlines and with a richer
content". He was writing in the context of the need for an intellectual
and cultural reawakening (this was over a century ago, and is needed as much
now as it was then). Aurobindo was describing how the spirit and ideals of
India has become confined to the old mould (imposed by colonialism) which had
to be broken.

In the
same way, it is useful to see that there are 'moulds' which India must protect
and defend as a part of the inter-government and multi-lateral structures now
concerned about climate change and the environment, but this does not mean we
are not free to create larger and richer moulds that are better suited to
describing the needs and imperatives of our polity. For this reason, while
being cognisant of the measures used by inter-governmental political and
scientific fora (such as the UNFCCC), we need also to step beyond the 'per
capita', the 'energy intensity' and the 'emissions' group of concepts. This is
especially important when considering what the average household, whether rural
or urban, can contribute through its behaviour and practice.

We are
not unused to dealing with several frames of reference at the same time. During
the first efforts at central planning in India, in 1939 the sub-committee on
Cottage Industries met at Wardha, Maharashtra. As documented by the historian
Dharampal, Mohandas Gandhi is said to have consented to a programme of
industrialisation, provided it was accompanied by an equal effort given to the
promotion and extension of the cottage industry. It is of interest that at that
time too, the question of what standard of living this was to help achieve was
being discussed.

And so
today we continue to speak, in the context of climate change and of our
responsibilities, of what is an acceptable standard of living and what is not.
We know that the primary sources of energy in India are what we call
traditional (fuelwood, agricultural residue and animal dung) and commercial
(fossil fuels and renewable - biogas, solar, wind and off-grid micro and mini
hydroelectric). The percentage of poor households has been decreasing, but
their number continues to rise and therefore the use of non-commercial biomass
has also continued to rise - according to the 2011 census, 67% of households
still cook using firewood, crop residues, cow dung cakes or coal.

This is
among the truths about which we acknowledge that India is part of the problem.
What has been somewhat obscured is that India has also been an active and constructive
participant in the search for solutions, which the Intended Nationally
Determined Contribution (INDC) document submitted to the UNFCCC states
unequivocally. Thus overall, when the per capita emissions of many developed
countries vary between 7 to 15 metric tons, in India it is about 1.56 metric
tons (in 2010). Likewise, the average annual energy consumption in India in
2011 was 0.6 tons of oil equivalent per capita as compared to global average of
1.88 tons per capita, while per capita annual electricity consumption stands at
917 kWh, which is about a third of the world's average. These ratios have been,
in contemporary analysis of economics and energy, been linked to where on the
Human Development Index our country lies, and where it must travel to.

Courtesy : Zenrainman

Just as
there are simple, everyday actions based on traditional values possible (and
practiced) at the household level, so too there are community and ward-level
activities that contribute to lowering our collective harmful impacts on the
environment and thereby lowering our carbon footprint. Our cities and towns are
struggling with refuse, garbage and household waste. For large cities (with
populations of 4 million and above) the daily waste produced is recorded as
being upwards of 1,000 tons (for large metros the quantities are more than
4,000 tons). When such quantities are consigned to landfills, apart from
endangering the health of those in nearby settlements, the methane adds to the
greenhouse gases in the atmosphere (and methane is more potent than carbon).

Once
again, the easy and time-tested solution lies in our memory of what was common
practice. What is today called wet waste (the cut and inedible portions of
vegetables and fruit), when supplemented with leaf litter and garden trimmings,
with only a little care and attention transforms over time into rich and
nourishing dark compost that when added to soil rejuvenates the fertility of
land (or potted plants), dramatically increases the amount of water the soil
can retain, and is indispensible for organic cultivation.

It is
with such a holistic view that the Swachh Bharat Abhiyan (clean India campaign)
and the Paramparagat Krishi Vikas Yojana (organic farming campaign) have been
conceived. By themselves these (and other initiatives that promote renewable
energy at the community and household level) are effective but it is together
that they become powerfully transformative. The climate crisis and the current
state of our planet demands responses that go beyond technology and finance. A
reorientation and a renewed consciousness is required, in every Indian
household, which rest upon our ancient values and also employ the tools of the
present.

This article first appeared in the December 2015 issue of Yojana, published by GOI

About Me

A post graduation in Environmental Management from SOAS, UK, my areas of interest are ecology,environmental economics and policy, and Dharma . I write regularly in online media portals on issues of natural heritage and GM food.